L.A. Parker: For kids in Trenton, violence is an unavoidable reality

Tatiana Little showed up as an African-American girl with chocolate brown skin with bright, clear eyes, that twinkled when she smiled.

Little, 7, one of the city’s thousands of shining stars, heads off to second grade in September at Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School following a summer of both danger and adventure.

Little had a big story to tell recently when we met under the Battle Monument in the North Ward’s Five Points area.

She had punctuated her summer of 2014 with a visit to Belmar, her first trip to any ocean, onto any beach. One can imagine her excitement of seeing the Atlantic Ocean, as the surf tumbled onto the sand or how her toes scrunched on those grains of sand.

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Belmar requires only a 45-minute car ride from Trenton, an almost straight drive on 195 East. Tatiana pushed her eyes upward as if the movement lifted a shade to memories still fresh in her mind.

“Oh, it was so exciting. A little scary. But so much fun,” Little said. Her smile and memory seemed to race ahead of her speech. She found silence as words caught up.

Her monumental beach day had included a packed lunch, water, and several snacks. Tatiana’s mother, Priscilla, had sprung the trip on her, a last-minute getaway.

Little said she stood tall as those first waves approached. Eventually water baptized her.

“I can swim but a couple of times those waves splashed over my head,” she remembered.

Little eventually pulled herself away from such a wonderful experience. She begrudgingly returned to the present.

Carlthialila Little, her grandmother, picked up the story. The beach had offered Tatiana temporary escape from her home on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard where violence ebbs and flows.

“The murders and bullets have been close but we keep the children inside. Tatiana and all other children stay on the back porch. It’s safer,” Carlthialila Little explained.

“Our children do not play near the front of the house. There’s been a lot of shooting. So, it’s either inside or out back. It’s a terrible thing to have to explain to a child but they stay safe.”

Our conversation occurred away from Tatiana. Her young spirit deserved separation from harsh reality of guns, blood, and death.

We swapped a few more stories. Actually, Tatiana had visited Belmar on the same day my son and I were just miles away in Asbury Park.

Tatiana says she is a great student who loves science.

A mention of an ISLES, Inc. garden box project at Martin Luther King Elementary School produced Tatiana’s gleeful response that her hands helped mix the soil that now grows vegetables.

Tatiana received my standard pep talk about the values of reading and education.

I voiced a hope that she makes another visit to Belmar or any beach where she can enjoy being a young girl.

One can only imagine what young people like Tatiana must think about when they are confined to backyards or hiding inside some house.

It’s difficult to think how they feel when bullets ricochet up the Boulevard followed by ambulance sirens or police arrivals.